(energetic music) - Good evening and welcome to "Horizonte", a show that takes a look at current issues through a Hispanic lens.

I'm your host Catherine Anaya.

A new book has been released that celebrates the first Chicano literature professor at Arizona State University.

Margarita Cota-Cardenas is one of the first Chicano writers to emerge in the 1960s and 1970s.

"La Plonqui: The Literary Life and Work "of Margarita Cota-Cardenas" takes a look at her contribution to Chicano literature and culture.

It's co-edited by Vanessa Fonseca-Chavez, an associate professor of English at Arizona State University and Jesus Rosales, an associate professor of Spanish in the School of International Letters and Cultures.

We will talk to Rosales, but first we hear from Cota-Cardenas herself.

- It was Jesus that came to me with the book idea.

I told him, (speaking foreign language).

Nobody's gonna buy it, nobody's gonna publish it.

I was a single mom.

I'm not feeling sorry for myself.

It's just, it was hard, you know?

My biggest achievement is my kids!

All of them, you know?

I feel between Tom and I, we did a good job pulling a family together, and I miss him like heck.

I get emotional about it, but my biggest achievement is my kids and then as far as the writing, what can I say?

I mean, I had to write, and I guess I could do it because, you know, I got published, I was one of the very first Chicana feminists and I hit it off.

It was the year of the woman in '75 and my stuff just caught on.

So, I'm fortunate, I don't know that I was that talented or anything, but it was just my time, I guess, you know?

My most intimate, personal stuff has been in Spanish and I think the best stuff that I have a better emotional expression.

It brings me peace to write, you know, but it's like in the processes, it can be very emotional.

So I stopped at this junk store that was on the side of the road on my way back home to Modesto.

And I looked around and oh my God, there was an old typewriter there.

It was covered with dust, a little bit of grime, and I asked the guy, he comes out, you know, I said, "Does this work?"

And he said, "Yes, I think so."

So we tried it hunt and peck, you know, and it worked!

And that's (speaking foreign language).

- [Catherine] And joining me now to talk more about the book is Jesus Rosales.

Thank you so much for joining me, welcome.

- Welcome, thank you very much for the invitation, yes.

- It is good to see you.

So, I wanna talk about the title of the book, "La Plonqui", that is a family nickname of Margarita's.

Why did you choose to use that particular name and use it in the title?

- Well, first of all, it's a name that was given to her by her aunt and uncles who used to play tunes and Margarita used to dance with her brother and I think the title "Plonqui", which is a playful song, dance... captures the spirit of the book, captures who Margarita is.

You know, she's very playful, she's very witty in her writing.

And (speaks in foreign language), you know, mischievous in a way, (speaks in a foreign language) flirt, and the photo that is also on the cover, you know, just personifies that.

So it was a real catchy name, I believe, you know, to also capture the spirit, but also, you know, behind all that stuff, there's a lot of seriousness behind that, you know?

So, yeah, I think it was a perfect word for it.

- Well, and you, you capture the seriousness of her story also on the cover, as well, with a picture of the typewriter.

It's a picture that you took and explain the background of that particular typewriter.

- Well, basically, Margarita told me that that was a typewriter that she used when she was writing her first book of poetry and her first novella and basically, you know, inspired her to write, and she called it (speaks in foreign language).

She also had a nickname for it as a playful partner.

- Well, let's talk a little bit about her because she is a pioneer.

How would you describe her importance to Chicano culture, to Chicano literature?

- Well, Margarita is part of the Chicano movement writers from the '60s/'70s and I believe that she's a pioneer in a sense that she was one of the first writers who introduced courses also in at the university level and of Chicano writers and not only that is that her writing as different or as opposed to other Chicano writers is in Spanish, you know, she wrote most of her stuff in Spanish and in Spanglish, so it was real challenging writing for her and for the readers, as well.

- And it really put her on the map, so to speak.

As I mentioned, she became the first professor at Arizona State University to create a Chicana literature class.

What year was that and how significant is that to what was happening, like you said, there was a Chicano movement happening at the time, how significant is it to have something like that exist during that time?

- Well, Margarita actually started teaching at ASU in 1980, I believe.

So, she she was coming from the Chicano movement and introducing many of the mentality of the movement and so forth and what is important about it is that it introduced all these themes that made it very important and relevant for many of the students who were studying at the time.

So, in our program, for example, where she taught in Spanish, in the Spanish program, she was offering the first Chicano courses in the Spanish program in Spanish and that was a very pioneer thing.

- And what kind of an influence did that have on the students who were taking your class?

- Well, they had a lot of influence because of the fact that Chicanos, who come from a background of Mexican, Latin American, Spanish background, valued the language, the culture, as opposed to taking it, for example in English, in English classes, and in English departments.

So I believe that the impact made her a pioneer in terms of opening spaces for many of the Chicanos and Chicanas at the time.

- She went on to become an accomplished poet and author.

How would you say her literature helped to, you know, you talk about the influence on the students, but how did she also educate others about the Chicano movement, about maybe some perceptions that were out there that were not necessarily accurate?

- Well, many of the things that she did, you know, because of the fact that she wrote in Spanish, she was influencing many of the Spanish-speaking world about the Chicanos, you know, because, you know, in terms of Chicano literature, most of it is written in English so many of the authors who actually wrote in English, were already setting up the problematics of general literature to English speaking audiences, but Margarita offered a different space.

So for the Spanish-speaking audiences with Latin America and Spain and here in the United States, it's just opened the same kind of problematics, but in a different language.

- We should also point out that we are talking about her.

She's still very much with us.

- [Jose] Yes.

- She's no longer teaching, but she is still obviously very influential.

She started a publishing company at a time when there were few women, Chicana writers, doing what she was doing and she really wanted to help elevate the voices.

- [Jose] Exactly.

- Did she help change the landscape for that?

- Well, again, I emphasize the fact that Margarita wrote in Spanish, you know, because of the fact that she wanted to reach a different type of audience, also.

So her Scorpion Press, which started here in Arizona, opened spaces for Chicanos who actually wrote in Spanish because of the fact not many were already being published because of the fact there were not editorial houses that published.

But even, you know, if you wrote in Spanish, that became even very difficult to publish.

So that's where the impact, I think, of her poetry and her writings.

- Well, and on top of that, I mean, she was writing about some serious political issues, as well.

Not only the injustices that she was seeing, but she was also talking about immigration and that was probably at a time when maybe it wasn't as discussed as it is now, but still just as relevant today, right?

- Yes, it's very much relevant, yes.

Of course, the problematics and you know, even her latest book, which was published maybe four or five years ago, was talking about SB 1070 and things like that, so, yeah, very influential.

- And you reference her work in your classes that you teach?

- [Jose] Yes.

- How influential was she for you personally?

- Very much because of the fact that she was challenging all of us in terms of not only reading things that through a lens that, well, let me say in Spanish, there's a saying, (speaking in foreign language), meaning, you know, she said it the way it was.

She wasn't really trying to mask anything, any problems and everything, so it is very challenging to read her because she uses a lot of slang, a lot of bilingualism, a lot of English, a lot of Spanish, so when you read her stuff, it becomes very difficult.

So for me, it was a challenge and since I was trained in the Spanish program, it was very important for me to try to promote Chicano literature in Spanish because of the fact that it's part of our identity that is being lost, so she influenced me in that sense.

So I try to emphasize that in my classes and luckily at ASU, you know, we teach Chicano literature in the Spanish program, you know, which gives us the opportunity to write in Spanish, to read in Spanish, and just gives a different perspective to everything.

- She certainly did change the landscape, especially here at the university.

So, as we mentioned, she is still with us.

- [Jose] Yes.

- So, what is her reaction to the fact that you have written, co-written this book and, you know, the celebrations that are happening around it?

- She loves it.

She can't believe it.

When I go and talk to her, she-- When I started to talk to her about the project, she actually felt like, you know, "Nobody's gonna listen to me.

"Nobody's gonna read me."

She felt very humbled, and she felt very honored, you know, and of course, we feel very honored to celebrate her work.

- Well, congratulations and of course, you can find the book wherever books are sold.

- [Jose] Yes.

- And I appreciate you coming on and sharing the background to why you wrote the book and why we need to celebrate and honor the contributions that Margarita has made to Chicano literature.

- No, thank you very much and if you allow me, can I, we give her, Margarita, the last words on this conversation - [Catherine] Absolutely.

- by reading a very short poem of the way she believes of poetry.

[Catherine] That would be wonderful.

- [Jose] Okay.

- Thank you.

- It's an opening of the book and I'll read it in Spanish, very short, and then I have the translation at the bottom, okay?

So the poem is called, (speaks in foreign language), and it says, (speaks in foreign language).

The translation, it's called "Inspiration and Fever".

"Poetry, like always you greet me with a hello, I arrived, "and I, surprised, pick up paper and pen "to tell you once again, I loved."

- Oh, that's so beautiful.

(speaks in foreign language) - Yes, the spirit is in her words.

- [Jose] It is.

- Absolutely.

- It is, she's a wonderful lady.

- Jesus, thank you so much for joining me, I appreciate it.

- No, thank you very much for having me.

- Good to see you.

- Okay.

- And that's our show for tonight.

For "Horizonte" and Arizona PBS, I'm Catherine Anaya.

Have a great night.

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